Finger Spool Uses: Most Common

[blewgrass]

Excuse the newbie question, but other than cave diving and connecting a sausage marker to the diver, what are the most common and significant uses for a basic finger spool?

The issue seems to me is that these spools are not the most tidy items to have, and the potential for entanglement is great. I cannot even store one in a bag, pocket, etc without the line falling off the spool and making a mess!

The other main question is why are they 100 feet long?

If there is any info you can point me to on this topic please feel free.

Thanks

Steve

 

[mike_s]

you can use them for penetration, or more commonly penetration off a main line to a side shot. Or anywhere that the vis is poor and you need a line to get you back where you started. such as tying it off to an anchor line and then using it it to get your way back in low vis.

instead of just connecting a Sausage to a diver's BC , divers often "shoot" the SMB/sausage from depth and use the spool to do it. Several YouTube videos on how to do this if you need to see them.

you can buy them in several lengths depending on who sells them. such as 65', 100' and 120 or 150'. If you want it shorter, cut off X number of feet.

The major difference in the length just typically results in a "thicker spool" as you can see in the below pics of a 65', 100' and a 160'

Tie a loop in the end of it and put a double-ender on it and through the hole in the spool to keep it from unraveling in your bag. I've never had a problem with them that way.

like this. put the double-ender through the line and the spool hole as shown below

 

[Cave Diver]

Excuse the newbie question, but other than cave diving and connecting a sausage marker to the diver, what are the most common and significant uses for a basic finger spool?

I've used my for a variety of things. Having a bit of extra line that you can cut off and use to secure a bit of gear with comes in handy. I've used it for doing sweeps looking for lost gear in our local lake and I've even used one to open the door on a truck when the keys accidently got locked in.

The issue seems to me is that these spools are not the most tidy items to have, and the potential for entanglement is great. I cannot even store one in a bag, pocket, etc without the line falling off the spool and making a mess!

Either you have too much line on the spool, you're not wrapping it tight enough, or you're not securing the end of it properly with a boltsnap. There should be a loop on the end of the line. Use the bolt snap to pull it tight. Then you can thread the end of the loop up through one of the holes in the spool then secure the bolt snap through the loop and the hole.

The other main question is why are they 100 feet long?

If there is any info you can point me to on this topic please feel free.

Thanks

Steve

You can have spools in a variety of lengths. I've seen them from 25 to 150' but you can add line or shorten as your needs dictate. If I need anything longer than that I use a reel because it's a pain to wind that much line back on. In openwater I carry a spool or real at least 1.5 times my planned depth. In the event I need to shoot a bag, I want it to have enough line to give it sufficient scope in the event that I have to deal with current. The most common size spools for me to carry is 100' or 150'.

 

[blewgrass]

Thanks very much. That makes a whole lot of sense to me. Do you use a spool on every dive, or just when vis is poor?

Also, is there a place you can "hang" the spool so that you don't have to hold it while diving around? It seems that you would not want to use both hands to mann the spool while you dive and look for lost gear, divers, etc.

 

[mike_s]

Thanks very much. That makes a whole lot of sense to me. Do you use a spool on every dive, or just when vis is poor?

simply put, you use it when you need it and otherwise don't.

whether I use it in poor vis all depends on the dive site. For example if you're diving on a wreck in 10-15' of vis and you're hooked in (anchored) to the bow, it's pretty easy to follow the deck back to the bow if the vis is poor without using a spool or reel.

Also, is there a place you can "hang" the spool so that you don't have to hold it while diving around? It seems that you would not want to use both hands to mann the spool while you dive and look for lost gear, divers, etc.

That's what the other end of that double-ender is for on the spool. Attach one end to the spool and the other end to you. clip it on a D-ring. I clip mine on a D-ring on my harness under my arm.

You can put it in a BC pocket but unless it's a zippered one or has a clip/d-ring in it, stuff falls out of pockets even with velcro flaps.



Everyone has their own "fine tuned" preference on how they do it or clip it off or loop it on, but here is a general video of using a finger spool to shoot a bag. (Note this is a a "closed finger spool" that is actually a small reel in this video from "What works" in canada. If you don't like open reels, one of these is what you might want to buy.).

 

[Cave Diver]

Thanks very much. That makes a whole lot of sense to me. Do you use a spool on every dive, or just when vis is poor?

Also, is there a place you can "hang" the spool so that you don't have to hold it while diving around? It seems that you would not want to use both hands to mann the spool while you dive and look for lost gear, divers, etc.

I carry a spool on every dive, because every dive I do has the potential to need one. Either for penetration purposes in cave or wreck, or to shoot a SMB in open water. It is typically clipped off on my left side d-ring.

If I'm using it to search for something in low viz, I fasten the loose end to something solid, pay out some line and mark a starting point. Then I run a 360 degree sweep around the fixed point til I return back to my starting marker. If I havent found the object, I pay out some more line, remark my starting point and make more sweeps in expanding circles. I only need one hand to control the spool for this.

This is just one search technique among many. Actual technique used depends on conditions.

 

[promocop]

in the video, why does the diver have a snap ring attached to his reg?

 

[Cave Diver]

in the video, why does the diver have a snap ring attached to his reg?

A lot of divers use a hogarthian setup. This entails the use of a long (5 or 7') hose on your primary reg. When not in use, they clip that reg off to a chest dring, such as when doing deco, etc.

This keeps it from dangling down in the sand or muck, or from catching on anything.

Sometimes it's also clipped off before getting in the water, for the same reasons.

 

[rongoodman]

I can't see the details of his sidemount configuration, but any regulator needs to be either in your mouth or stowed such that it will not drag and be caught or damaged. He'll use the bolt snap to attach that regulator to a D-ring when he's breathing from the other tank.(Sidemount rigs are independent doubles, not connected by a manifold, so you breath alternately off each tank to balance the gas left in each.)

 

[Van Isle]

Since I purchased my 100' spool a 20 or 30 dives ago, I find myself using it a lot. Most dives I practice launching my marker from my safety stop. I've had to launch it to warn boats (hopefully) that we were coming up. I've used it to shoot that marker to mark some lost goodies I found at the beginning of a dive, so I could swim to the marker at the end of the dive, descend on the line, and then I used it to attach my SMB to the object to lift it up. Other options are for navigation when returning to an upline (like a mooring on a boat) is tricky and necessary. Conducting search patterns.

Some of the reasons they are that long (i.e. 100') is so that you can shoot the buoy from depth and have room to spare to account for the diagonal if there are currents, wind, etc. Also, extra length allows you to remove the frequently used and abuse first few feet after a while without really sacrificing anything. AND you can use a few feet to cave-tie off bolt snaps to pieces of gear, like SPG, or primary second stage.

And because no one has mentioned it yet: if you're using a reel, it's in your hand, never tied off, clipped, or otherwise attached to you. Imagine a boat snagging your marker at 30kts with you on the end...